Here in Buffalo, New York, we are having a bit of an identity crisis this winter. Thanks to El Niño, we’ve seen record-breaking warmth throughout December and the longest snow-free streak for the city since 1899, a drastic difference from last year’s “Snowvember,” which dropped a good six feet on my front lawn in South Buffalo the week before Thanksgiving. Driving bans were implemented, snow-blowers were deemed useless, we were national news, and honestly, we loved it all.
There exists a wide appreciation among Buffalonians for extremely wintry weather because it highlights everything our city is and all it means to us. We would take a blizzard over another type of storm any day and have become experts at navigating the massive amounts of snow and ice we see (almost) yearly. Buffalo is one place you’ll still find bread and milk in grocery stores when the weatherman calls for a flurry. We drive, bus and walk to work and school through white-outs and snow piles that stand taller than some sixth graders. We are tough, but more importantly, we are kind and neighborly. No one suffers through a snowstorm alone in the city of Buffalo, but this year, all of us are suffering a drought. Though a few of us may be a little bitter about this year's far-from-white Christmas, the snow we can probably do without for one season, but the uplifting stories and hilarious stunts that come from the “worst” of Buffalo weather are what we’re really missing in 2015.
Here are a few things that happened during more seasonal Buffalo winters, just in case you forgot.
1. In 2014, Snowmageddon didn't scare us.
Lake effect, schmake effect.
2. A "storm baby" was born in a firehouse.
A woman in South Buffalo gave birth to daughter Lucy Grace in a firehouse when the snow was too high to make it to the hospital, thanks to firefighters and two nurses who happened to be stranded nearby.
3. Firefighters carried a patient 10 blocks to the nearest hospital.
Multiple feet of snow prevented vehicles from transporting a patient to Mercy Hospital, so firefighters responded with a lift on foot.
4. Everyone got new refrigerators.
The city of "resourceful" neighbors.
5. Flying Bison Brewing Company delivered beer via drone.
Just in case some needy Buffalonians didn't have anything on hand to go in their new refrigerators...
6. We took nice naps.
Snow bed > water bed.
7. One family found this a relief.
They thought their roof might have collapsed, but were thankful to find it was just the french doors caving in. Firefighters arrived at the scene, but not before the family cleaned it up and went on with their snow day.
8. Schools were closed (and ran out of allotted snow days before January).
Snow days are the best days. Snow weeks are the best. Period.
9. But we got back to work as soon as we could.
Casual.
10. Everyone chipped in.
There's no bonding like stuck-in-seven-feet-of-snow-for-six-days bonding.
11. I was on top of the world...
Where is my face?
...and the bottom of it.
Buffalo rules.
